Broadcom is the de facto standard for 1Gb and 10Gb iSCSI host bus adapter (HBA) offload with shipments expected to exceed one million ports in 2010. This week the company made the 957711 dual-port network interface card (NIC), the world's first 10Gb converged NIC with iSCSI HBA offload to preserve server processor resources available to OEMs, and a 10GBASE-T physical interface for connection with low-cost RJ45 connectors and existing copper cabling. This is an important milestone in the developm

You can get a 10Gb converged network adapter from Emulex with iSCSI HBA offload, and you can get a 10Gb NIC from Intel with RJ45 connectors and 10GBASE-T, but you can only get a 10Gb Converged NIC with iSCSI offload and 10GBASE-T from Broadcom. I expect about the time server OEMs start shipping their branded version of the BRCM 957711 NIC from Broadcom, previously announced switches from Cisco will be generally available with 10GBASE-T ports. The combination of the two will give data center managers access to a complete 10GBASE-T solution from two of the most trusted names in networking.

The bottom line is that the astounding growth of iSCSI can't be ignored by the storage or networking community, while accelerating deployments of 10Gb networks has created demand for cost-effective 10GBASE-T technology. With 10GBase-T NICs and iSCSI offload now available from a major vendors like Broadcom, I expect the markets and market leaders to move front and center in the plans of data center managers, OEMs and investors.